'The parade also included a group called Foreskin Pride, which advocates the right of people to choose whether or not they're circumcised. Its contingent featured several dozen completely naked and uncircumcised men, one of whom held a sign reading, “Foreskins Feel Really Good.”'

There was also a Foreskin Pride contingent in the Chicago Pride parade, and an Intactivist contingent in the San Diego Pride parade. Victoria BC will have a Foreskin Pride contingent in the Pride parade this Sunday, and Vancouver will have one in August. Indianapolis Pride was held on June 8, and included an Intactivist group.

Circumcision ban not necessary, board of health finds

There is so little risk involved in the ritual circumcision of boys when carried out by competent doctors that there is no need to recommend banning the procedure, according to the board of health.

[Risk is only one of many reasons infant circumcision for other than pressing medical needs should not be allowed.]

Sundhedsstyrelsen (the National Board Of Health) laid out its findings into the potential dangers of circumcision in a report commissioned by the Health Ministry and published on Wednesday. They also found that there was insufficient documentation to generally recommend circumcising young men and boys.

The findings disappointed anti-circumcision group Intact, whose deputy chairman Leo Milgrom stated in a press release that it will mean that boys will continue to lose the right to decide over their own body.

“Even without all the weighty ethical considerations, and without all the many legal, sexual and psychological consequences, at the very least a scientific precautionary principle should apply: circumcision should be immediately stopped simply as a result of the scientific uncertainty described in the health agency’s own report,” Milgrom stated.

Intact argues that male ritual circumcision should be stopped because of unpredictable and unintended psychological consequences that the boys might suffer later in life. They argue that banning female circumcision yet allowing male circumcision, which they argue is equivalent, is discriminatory.

But according to Sundhedsstyrelsen there have been no serious complications as a result of ritual male circumcision in Denmark [not true], though the risk of complication does increase if a boy is circumcised later in life. [There is no evidence for this.]

The current guidelines for male circumcision only require that boys aged 15 and over must consent to the procedure [a meaningless protection if they are fair game before that age]. The procedure must also take place under the supervision of the doctor under proper medical conditions and the children must be administered adequate pain relief.

Sundhedsstyrelsen estimates that between 1,000 and 2,000 ritual circumcisions take place every year in Denmark.

EU guidelines on freedom of religion or belief

...The guidelines also explicitly oppose any religious justification to
restrictions on other fundamental rights and to violence against women,
children, members of religious minorities and persons on the basis of their
sexual orientation and gender identity. They point out that there are some
practices, associated with the manifestation of a religion or belief (or
perceived as such), which may constitute violations of human rights. The
fact that the right to freedom of religion or belief is sometimes invoked to
justify violations of other human rights is an EU concern; it states that,
whilst it is "committed to the robust protection and promotion of freedom of
religion or belief in all parts of the world", such justifications can never
legitimise the undermining of human rights"

PACE committee condemns violations of the physical integrity of children

Strasbourg, 27.06.2013 - "Some parents, often with the best of intentions, give their consent to medically unjustified operations or interventions, which may have serious consequences for the physical integrity of their children, some of whom suffer for the rest of their lives," said Marlene Rupprecht (Germany, SOC), whose report was today adopted by the PACE Committee on Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development.

The practices condemned by Ms Rupprecht include the circumcision of young boys for religious reasons, female genital mutilation in some cultures, medical interventions in the case of intersexual children, and the submission to or coercion of children into piercings, tattoos or plastic surgery.

If circumcision seems to be indicated for medical reasons, its necessity should be closely examined on a case-by-case basis; in the religious context, families should be systematically made aware of the risks of the procedure and be provided with full information on the alternatives, the report says.

The committee found that female genital mutilation, which evidently has no medical benefit whatsoever but is a procedure intended to control the sexual behaviour of girls and women throughout their lives, must be officially prohibited through legislation, backed by effective measures and sanctions to eradicate the practice and make the public aware of the problem.

The report recommends various steps that can be taken to effectively protect children, in particular filling the most evident legal loopholes (for example, by prescribing that only qualified medical staff be allowed to undertake circumcisions, in sterile conditions), educating families so that they understand the risks involved in certain operations, and, in the longer term, changing deeply rooted and unquestioned religious and cultural practices that can very often be harmful to children.

This issue is to be debated at the next plenary session of the PACE in Strasbourg (30 September-4 October 2013).

Namibia: Harmful Male Circumcision Condemned

by Kuzeeko Tjitemisa

Keetmanshoop — Namibian First Lady Penehupifo Pohamba has condemned all practices within the traditional, religious and social environment that are detrimental to the well-being and general development of the African child.

In her statement read by Councillor Jan Schotlz during the commemoration of the Day of the Africa Child held at the J Stephanus Stadium last Friday, Pohamba specifically singled out traditional circumcision as being harmful to children. She said that such social and cultural practices female genital mutilation, infanticide, child labour and forced marriages. "It is about time we examined our positions when it comes to these harmful social practices affecting our children," she said and added that a cursory look at the situation painted a picture that suggested that "we all have thrown [up] our hands in despair, giving an aura of morality to practitioners and believers of these practices."

... She further said there is a growing problem of children subjected to all forms of harmful practices, such as child labour and exploitation; traditional male circumcision of young boys, but also social practices such as neglect, baby dumping, sexual abuse, as well as the phenomena of sugar daddies and sugar mommies. ... Today we are not calling for culture to be done away with, but for all of us to relook some of these practices and to make a decision: is it beneficial or is it harmful. If we find that it is harmful, then I'm calling on all of us today to make a serious effort to do away with these harmful cultural practices," she said

"You are our hope for a better tomorrow. I want to call on all of you, to grab all opportunities at your disposal to equip yourself with knowledge, to study hard, and know where you can report incidents of harmful social and cultural practices and all other forms of violence against children," she emphasised. ... The Day of the African Child is marked on June 16 each year to honour the memory of schoolchildren killed and the courage of all those who marched in 1976 during a demonstration in Soweto, South Africa.

On that day, an estimated 10 000 schoolchildren gathered at the Orlando Stadium in Soweto to protest against an apartheid-inspired education system in that country and to demand instruction in their own languages instead of Afrikaans. The unarmed learners were, however, brutally attacked by the police and in the process an estimated 176 children lost their lives while thousands of them got wounded what has come to be known throughout the world as the "Soweto Uprising."

Mbale Residents Flee Forceful Circumcision

by Emmanuel Okwii

If you are an adult male who has been planning to visit Mbale anytime this week, then you might as well postpone your visit unless you want to be circumcised in the streets. The youth in Mbale are on the run following the forceful circumcision campaign that started last week.

The operation is being spearheaded by the Mbale male Bagisu youth against their colleagues that have not been circumcised. Business in the town has been affected as the uncircumcised have begun fleeing lest they be injured and ruthlessly circumcised.

This indiscriminate circumcision campaign, though intended for the Bagisu youth, has equally threatened non Bagisu in the town with many shops owned by the non Bagisu locked.

Reports obtained from Mbale Hospital have revealed that more than 60 adult men have so far rushed to Mbale hospital such that they too can be circumcised. Those that Uganda Picks spoke to claim that the ruthlessness with which their fellow youth circumcise the uncircumcised is life threatening.

However, the Bamasaba elders claim that this early campaign by the youths does not in any way reflect the position of the Bamasaba cultural institution. They said that real circumcision carried alongside rituals will commence in August. They have also condemned in the strongest terms possible the indiscriminate circumcision currently being done in the Mbale streets.

On World Refugee Day, Egypt has been praised for welcoming thousands of Syrians seeking refuge, but some African refugees are feeling left behind

Moataz, a 41-year-old Sudanese asylum seeker from Darfur, has called Egypt home for the last year, but it has not always been a welcoming one.

He worked in north Darfur for several years, until he started to have problems with the Sudanese government, who believed he was cooperating with local rebel groups. “I had to resign and come to Khartoum. I knew I was being followed,” he says.

He was then forced to flee Khartoum after delivering a speech at a women’s rights conference, in which he argued that girls should not be circumcised.

“While I was speaking at the conference, they came and took my kids. They took my two girls and circumcised them.

"They brought a letter, and they had doctors' uniforms. They said they came from the ministry of health. They had put my photo on a document, saying that I had agreed to do that,” Moataz says. “When they brought them back they gave my wife a message: Tell your husband he shouldn’t talk about these things.”

His daughters were two and six when they were forcibly circumcised. After the incident, he fled with his family to Egypt and claimed asylum.

R2.2m for boy's botched circumcision

by Sharika Regchand

Durban - The parents of a boy whose circumcision was botched at a Vryheid hospital were awarded R2.2 million [$US 195,900] to be paid within 14 days by the provincial Health Department, Deputy Judge President Achmat Jappie ordered in the Pietermaritzburg High Court on Wednesday.

Judge Jappie also ordered that the department pay all the family’s legal costs.

The mother of the child, now nine, sued the department on behalf of her son following his circumcision in October 2009. [They asked for five times as much.]

He suffered severe burning, infections and a loss of his normal penile tissue after the procedure.

Plastic and reconstructive surgeon Paul McGarr said in a report before the court that he was “completely amazed by the inertia, lack of a sense of urgency and lack of sensitivity shown by the doctors” who initially managed the child.

McGarr went into detail as to how the child’s injury had occurred and commented that the standard of practice and aftercare at the hospital constituted gross negligence by staff who had failed to follow the most basic principles of surgery.

“In essence, nine minutes of a rushed, incompetent circumcision has significantly and severely impacted on the child for the rest of his life.”

Attorney Sonette Boning said the boy’s parents were happy that the matter had been finalised after four years.

She said they were not on medical aid and had found it difficult to get him the best medical and psychological treatment.

He would also need to have further surgery.

The mother previously told The Mercury that it was difficult for her son and there had been a big change in his life.

“He went through a lot of anxiety, fear and psychological trauma. He also lost his self-confidence,” she said, recalling days when her son had panic attacks and times when she could do nothing to help him feel better.

Limpopo Taxis to cultural initiation schools in Limpopo

by Montsho Matlala

Panick struck the Jane Furse taxi rank in the Sekhukhune district in Limpopo on Tuesday following allegations that some taxi operators had been abducted and forcefully taken to local initiation schools.

Some taxi drivers went into hiding as cultural circumcision was not part of their families' culture.

One man said he was considering taking legal action after his brother was abducted and taken to an initiation school in the area at the weekend.

Callies Mokgoatjana, spokesperson for the Jane Furse Polokwane Taxi Association yesterday denied any form of kidnappings by members of his association.

State recognises "non-specific" gender

The Supreme Court of New South Wales has ruled that a person's gender may be recorded as "non-specific"

A person identifed as Norrie was born male in Scotland, but later undertook surgery, because they identified as "having a non specific gender identity".

Norrie applied to the NSW Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages to change their registered name and sex. The Registrar at first approved the change of sex to "not specified" but three weeks later said the approval had been issued in error and changed the sex to "not stated". Norrie applied for review and was turned down, appealed and was turned down again.

Now after considering the law in detail, the Supreme Court of New South Wales has ruled that registration of sex is not confined to "male" or female" but may include a non-specific category.

While Norrie was born male, this legal recognition will be of value to people born with Variations of Sex Development (commonly known as "intersexed" or "hermaphrodite") and want to be officially recognised as such.

Retaliation?

June 18, 2013

Man shot dead at E Cape initiation school

A man has been shot dead at an initiation school near Bityi early on Tuesday morning, say Eastern Cape police.

Egyptian doctor convicted of botched surgery

The ENT doctor jailed for six months, barred from practising in Gulf

by Ramadan Al Sherbini

Cairo: A Saudi court has given an Egyptian doctor six months in prison and barred him from working in the kingdom and other Gulf countries after finding him guilty of carrying out botched circumcision operations.

The Islamic Sharia Court in the western Saudi city of Al Madinah also ordered Abdullah Hamzah, a specialist in ear, nose and throat infections, of paying a fine of 100,000 Saudi riyals (Dh97,936). [$US26,600]

Families of seven new-born boys have accused Hamzah of causing damage to their children after carrying out circumcision on them in a private clinic.

The court said that he will not be allowed to leave the kingdom before relevant compensation lawsuits are handled, depending on damage caused to each case.

Circumcised boys rescued in Eastern Cape

Two Eastern Cape boys who underwent an illegal circumcision were hospitalised on Sunday, the provincial health department said.

"A team of police and health officials responded to [a call from] one of the villages, Mkhantatho, and rescued two boys," spokesman Sizwe Kupelo said.

"The boys were suffering from dehydration and hallucinations."

They were found in a forest near Sicambeni village around 1am, and taken to hospital as they required immediate medical care.

Kupelo said police were searching for the person who performed the illegal circumcisions.

Parents notified the department of 12 other boys, between the ages of 12 and 13, who had received illegal circumcisions in Sicambeni.

"This brings the number of illegal circumcisions reported [this week] to over 80," said Kupelo.

Earlier, he said the department had received reports of illegal circumcisions in Cibeni, Mkhantatho, Gebali, Lukuni, and KwaGorha villages. At least 70 boys were reported to be in illegal circumcision schools.

They were being circumcised by a boy who attended a school in the area and who was not a recognised district surgeon. The matter came to light when concerned traditional leaders contacted the department.

Italy: Jewish and Arab doctors to cooperate on circumcision

Rome meeting hears 35% secret operations by Muslims

(ANSAmed) - Rome - Muslim and Jewish doctors for the first time have reached agreement on key health issues including circumcision which has become an emergency among members of Italy's Islam community.

The cooperation emerged from an 'ad hoc' meeting organised between Foad Aodi, the president of Italy's foreign doctors' association (AMSI) and Dario Perugia, the president of the Jewish doctors' association.

Unlike Jewish newborns who are circumcised by doctors under the supervision of a synagogue, one third of Muslim children are circumcised in secret locations with the risk of complications and infections.

Aodi said this affected a large number of children, given there are 1.3 million Muslims in Italy.

AMSI has been fighting for change for some time because circumcision (not to be confused with illegal practices like female genital mutilation) occurs in clinics or locations that were part of the national health service.

[But many Muslims want as desperately to cut their girls, to a similar extent and for the same reasons.]

He stressed it was important to protect children's health. Health authorities also want to eliminate the circumcision 'black market' that is flourishing in Italy where doctors can be paid a thousand euro for a single operation, forcing many families to make great sacrifices or return to their countries of origin. [Or not do it.]

AMSI together with Italy's Arab community and the cultural association "Uniti per Unire" and Jewish doctors are proposing that the service be offered at a maximum price of 100 euros. That has already been introduced in regions including Emilia Romagna and Veneto but there is now a push for a national approach.

"Every day we receive telephone calls from three or four families who are desperate because they don't know where to go," Aodi said. (ANSAmed).

Baby dies eight days after losing consciousness following brit

Eight days after being hospitalized, the baby boy who lost consciousness immediately after being circumcised has died. The cause of death is still unclear, but apparently is not connected to the circumcision itself.

Jewish tradition mandates that boys be circumcised at eight days old in a ritual known as "brit milah."

The Edith Wolfson Medical Center in Holon reported that the infant had been hospitalized "in very serious condition of near brain death."

The birth of the boy, born to an ultra-Orthodox family from Bat Yam, was entirely normal, in the 38th week of pregnancy. At eight days of age, he was duly circumcised. About 30 minutes after the circumcision, when his mother tried to nurse him, the family noticed that he had stopped breathing and he was rushed to hospital.

The hospital spoke with the mohel who performed the circumcision to determine whether the child had been given any sedatives or anesthetics that could have caused an allergic reaction, or whether any excessive bleeding had been spotted. Both possibilities were ruled out.

The speculation that the boy had suffered from an undetected congenital heart defect was also ruled out, as was the possibility that he had choked to death after being fed.

The prevalent assumption among the medical staff who treated the child was that he had suffered from an undiagnosed metabolic or endocrine disorder, though no one was sure what had caused the boy's death. His family reportedly refused to allow an autopsy.

Egyptian girl dies while being circumcised

A 13-year-old Egyptian girl has died while being circumcised at a private village in the Daqahliya governorate north east of Cairo, Egyptian media reported on Sunday.

“We left our daughter with the doctor and the nurse. 15 minutes later, the nurse took my daughter out of the operation room to a nearby room, along with three other girls whom the doctor was circumcising,” Mohammed Ibrahim, a farmer, told al-Masry al-Youm.

“I waited half an hour, hoping that my daughter would wake up, but, unfortunately, unlike the rest of the girls, she did not,” he said.

The doctor who circumcised Suhair al-Bata’a had previously circumcised the victim’s elder sister two years ago.

“I want nothing but to hold the doctor accountable and to have justice for my daughter,” the victim’s mother, Hasanat Naeem Fawzy, told the newspaper.

The police summoned the doctor and ordered an autopsy to find out the cause of the young girl’s death.

A health inspector report explained the cause of the death was due to “a sharp drop in blood pressure resulting from shock trauma,” the family’s lawyer, Abdel Salam, told al-Masry al-Youm.

Egypt's National Council for Women condemned the deadly incident of female circumcision as a criminal act that reflects "extreme savagery," calling on the government to investigate the issue and punish the culprits.

UNICEF Egypt has also condemned the incident, saying female circumcision has no justification, medical or religious.

Abdel Wahab Suleiman, undersecretary of the Ministry of Health in Daqahliya, who said that the Health Directorate had not yet been notified of the incident, described Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) as against the law.

In 1996, Egypt criminalized FGM; however, many families still bring their daughters to be illegally circumcised. In 2009, Egyptian authorities arrested a man for the first time since FGM’s ban was introduced. The man was arrested for his illegal circumcision of an eleven-year-old girl in the governorate of Minya, 600 kilometers south of Cairo.

Baby Dies in Israeli Hospital following Circumcision

The circumcision had actually been performed flawlessly, and apparently baby choked during feeding.

by Yori Yanover

A newborn baby who was hospitalized in serious condition at Wolfson Medical Center in Holon, Israel, from complications following a rite of circumcision, passed away on Friday. Both Chief Rabbis and the Chief Rabbinate of Israel expressed their sorrow to the mourning family.

The Chief Rabbinate of Israel stated that “immediately after the initial report of the incident, the director of the dept. of circumcisions in the Chief Rabbinate was in constant contact with the mohel (ritual circumciser) who conducted the rite, with the doctors who treated the baby at the Wolfson Medical Center, and with the senior physicians who are members of the joint circumcisions committee of the Ministry of Health and the Rabbinate.”

It was reported by the rabbinate that “since the initial diagnosis, the doctors who treated the baby were convinced that the complication in the baby’s condition was not the result of the circumcision but resulted from a previously existing medical condition. Later treatments administered to the baby confirmed this determination.”

“An investigation revealed that the mohel who performed the circumcision is a veteran, certified mohel,” said the Rabbinate’s statement. “The mohel followed procedure and performed a test on the baby after the rite. Only about half an hour after circumcision did signs of the medical complication in the child began to appear, not related to the circumcision itself. The mohel accompanied the family to the hospital.”

A week ago, at about 11 AM, MDA paramedics were called to a synagogue in Holon, after an infant who had undergone a rite of circumcision there had stopped breathing and lost consciousness, shortly after the ceremony. The rescue crew took him to Wolfson Medical Center. After resuscitation in the hospital shock room, the baby’s condition stabilized.

Hatzolah volunteer Yehuda Mizrachi, who was among the first on the scene, told Channel 2 News: “We received a call about an unconscious baby. When I arrived I found a completely blue baby, not breathing and without a pulse. We started resuscitation and massaging, until the ambulance arrived and took him to the hospital.”

After investigating the circumstances of the case, it was discovered that the circumcision had actually been performed flawlessly, and apparently baby choked during feeding.

[So did he choke during feeding, or did he have a pre-existing medical condition? This is like the story of Susanna and the Elders.]

“The bris had concluded safely and then everyone sat down to eat,” Abraham, a friend of the family, related. “He was nursing from his mother and then she put him in his cart. At some point we noticed that the child was not responding and had turned blue.”

“One of the guests called the MDA, and with their guidelines performed a cardiac massage,” added Abraham, described the event. “Then the rescue team continued the efforts, along with the MDA.”

Doctor admits performing 47 circumcisions

MADINAH — A doctor in a private hospital has admitted to performing 47 circumcision procedures, of which at least seven were botched and the victims had to be admitted to hospital.

A medical source was quoted by Al-Madinah newspaper as saying that the doctor has admitted to performing 47 circumcision procedures. Most of them also suffer from various injuries and require hospitalization.

Dr. Abdullah Al-Taifi, director at Madinah Health Affairs, is closely following the case, the source said. A specialist committee formed to investigate the case was expected to meet in a couple of days, the newspaper said.

In a statement, the Health Directorate has described the actions of the doctor as unethical and unprofessional.

Junior doctors respond to initiation deaths

by Montsho Matlala

Shocked by the deaths of at least 36 initiates at the cultural circumcision schools in Mpumalanga and Limpopo, the Junior Doctors Association of SA (JUDASA) has kicked off free male medical circumcision campaign for boys.

And the association members have already snipped 50 males, the youngest being just nine and the oldest 30 at the Mankweng hospital over the weekend.

JUDASA chairperson in Limpopo Dr Tshilidzi Sadiki told The New Age on Monday medial doctors were disturbed by deaths at cultural circumcision schools.

“This does not mean we are against cultural circumcision, we are concerned about the high mortality rate and risky medical conditions. We kicked off the campaign at the Mankweng hospital near Polokwane on Saturday.

...

Saudi GazetteJune 3, 2013

Travel ban on Arab doctor after 'botched circumcisions'

MADINAH — Government bodies in Madinah have banned an Arab doctor from leaving the country after he was accused of botching four circumcision procedures, Al-Watan newspaper reported.

Madinah Health Affairs have admitted the babies to a local children’s hospital to prepare reports about their conditions.

The babies’ parents complained to the directorate about their children’s suffering after they were circumcised.

They said the babies were having difficulties urinating and their wounds have not healed despite the long period that had passed since the procedure.

The Director of Madinah Health Affairs Dr. Abdullah Al-Taifi said a medical committee was formed to investigate the incident and the babies were admitted to a hospital.

He said the doctor who performed the procedures works at a private hospital as a nose and ear specialist and was not licensed to perform such procedures.

He added that the doctor has caused harm to the babies and the directorate has notified security bodies to ban him from leaving the country until investigations are completed.

The medical committee will submit a report of its findings to the judicial authorities for further action.

In another incident, a child suffered chest and skin inflammation in a private hospital after a needle was mistakenly left in his chest.

Al-Tafi said he regretted these mistakes and that a committee was also formed to investigate the incident. [Any regret or committees for the four circumcised babies?]

The official apologized to the child’s parents and said that they have the right to sue those responsible. [Any apology or right to sue for the parents of the four circumcised babies?]

He said the reports regarding the five incidents would be ready by Monday.